Suction caissons are more and more used for offshore foundations. This paper deals with the cyclic modelling of suction caissons using the Prevost's model. The case study is a 8m large diameter embedded ... [more ▼]

Suction caissons are more and more used for offshore foundations. This paper deals with the cyclic modelling of suction caissons using the Prevost's model. The case study is a 8m large diameter embedded in dense No. 0 Lund sand. Parameters for the model are calibrated using drained triaxial tests. A parametric study concerning the influence of the constitutive law, the skirt length and permeability is carried out. [less ▲]

Tunnel excavations in deep rocks provide stress perturbations which initiate diffuse and/or localized damage propagation in the material. This damage phenomenon can lead to significant irreversible deformations and changes in rock properties. In this paper, we propose to model such behavior by considering a micromechanically-based damage approach. The resulting micromechanical model, which also accounts for initial stress, is described and assessed through the numerical analysis of a synthetic tunnel drilling in Opalinus Clay. A particular emphasis is put on the numerical integration of the model. In particular, an appropriate choice of the latter is required to ensure the numerical stability and a confident prediction of excavation damaged zone around tunnels. [less ▲]

Excavation damaged zone, with significant irreversible deformations and nonnegligible changes in flow and transport properties generally occurs in indurated clay around underground structures. The stress perturbation around the excavation could lead to a significant increase of the permeability physically due to diffuse and/or localized microcracks growth in the material. In the present study, we investigate microcracks-induced damage processes together with the subsequent modification in permeability. The proposed approach is based on a homogenization-based upper bound extended to the context of micro-cracked media in presence of initial stress. Application of this approach is done on a borehole excavation problem related to the Selfrac in situ experiments on Opalinus Clay. Although, the model fails to quan-titatively account for the in situ permeability change (which may also originated from existing macro-fractures), its prediction shows a significant evolution of the material permeability around the borehole. This is in qualitative agreement with available data. [less ▲]

Gallery excavation in clayey rocks induces stress perturbations that trigger damage propagation. The excavation process creates then the so-called excavation damaged zone in which properties are modified. The prediction of the extension and especially of the fracturing structure in this zone remains a crucial issue in the context of underground storage. Since strain localization in shear band mode is frequently observed in experimental works, the excavation damaged zone can be modeled by considering the development of strain localization bands. A hydro-mechanical modelling of a gallery excavation is performed. The numerical results exhibit an excavation damaged zone extension similar to the in situ measurements and provides information about the rock state within this zone. [less ▲]